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Tuesday federal headlines - November 12, 2013

Tuesday - 11/12/2013, 8:11am EST

The Morning Federal Newscast is a daily compilation of the stories you hear Federal
Drive hosts Tom Temin and Emily Kopp discuss throughout the show each day. The
Newscast is designed to give FederalNewsRadio.com users more information about the
stories you hear on the air.

Open Season has begun. Federal employees have until
Dec. 9 to make changes to their benefits plans. 95 percent of feds typically end
up sticking with their old choices. But expert Walt Francis tells Federal News
Radio employees could save up to $2,000 by choosing wisely. Premiums are changing.
They're going up an average of 4.4 percent. And there are a handful of new health
plans this year. People enrolled in flexible spending accounts have to re-enroll.
That choice doesn't carry over from year to year. (Federal News Radio)

The partisan spat over HealthCare.gov is getting personal. The House Oversight
Committee, headed by Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), is hauling over administration
witnesses. He wants to find out what went wrong with the failed launch of the
federal healthcare insurance exchange. But not everyone is showing up. Issa issued
a subpoena to Todd
Park, the chief technology officer. Park was held back by higher-ups in the
administration, who said he was too busy working to fix the site. Park's staff say
they tried to negotiate a different date for his appearance. Issa says Park
represents an unfortunate pattern. Meanwhile Avalere, a health care think tank,
estimates only 49,000 people
have signed up for insurance using state-run exchanges. Federal figures come
out this week. (Federal News Radio)

Treasury Secretary Jack Lew has received subpoena number two to appear before
the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee. Chairman Darrell Issa wants
more internal documents related to the IRS and how it handled tax exempt
applications from conservative groups. GovExec reports, Treasury officials say
their response was delayed by the government shutdown. Treasury has
sent more than 1,000 pages. But Issa says they're mostly letters from members of
Congress and drafts of congressional testimony. (GovExec)

The federal government is offering $20 million in humanitarian aid to the
Philippines following Typhoon Haiyan. The U.S. Agency for International
Development says half will go to emergency response, things like procuring,
transporting and distributing commodities. The agency is shipping and distributing
1,000 rolls of plastic sheeting and 10,000 hygiene kits to the affected area.
The other half of the money
will go to the UN World Food Program. It will fund airlifts of emergency food
products coming from Miami, among other things. (USAID)

More Marines have been deployed to help in disaster
relief in the Philippines. Approximately 90 troops and several aircrafts from
3rd Marine Expeditionary Brigade have arrived in the typhoon-ravaged country. That
brings the number of Marines helping out to 270. They are led by Brig. Gen. Paul
Kennedy, deputy commander of the III Marine Expeditionary Force. One group came
from Okinawa, Japan and will help with surveying the damage and looking for
casualties. Others will help with logistics in the distribution of food, water and
medicine. The big storm has affected more than 4 million people. Some 10,000 are
feared dead. (Marines)

The Pentagon says 22 percent fewer servicemembers committed suicide this year. Officials
tell the Associated Press they aren't sure why the numbers are down, because the
causes of suicide can be hard to detect. The military has hired more behavioral
health experts. It has also beefed up training, expanded crisis phone lines and
substance abuse programs and handed out gun locks. In absolute numbers, as of mid-
October, 71 fewer servicemembers committed suicide this year compared with last
year. (Associated Press)

The Energy Department has launched a contest to find tech teams that can put its data to
good use. The agency has broken the American Energy Data Challenge into four
parts. The first competition is this month. The agency wants participants to
identify Energy Department open-data sets that could form the backbone of new apps
or other inventions. Three more rounds are planned for next year. (Department
of Energy)

The Justice Department and the Securities and Exchange Commission's inspector
general are looking at the investments of certain SEC
employees. The Wall Street Journal reports, the probe is limited to employees
in the SEC's New York office. Sources say they're seeing if the employees have
financial holdings that could be a conflict of interest. SEC rules ban employees
from having stock in companies under investigation. A planned computer tracking
system has never materialized, so compliance is mostly based on the honor system.
(Wall Street Journal)